Electrical Question

[JD5210]

I am looking to upgrade the electrical service in my shed to 100amp and bring up to code the wiring from the meter and 200amp circuit breaker located on an electrical pole 30 feet from my shed. Before I get started I could use some help in answering some questions.

On the attached picture of the 200amp circuit breaker. What is the yellow wire neutral or ground?

I have spoken to a county building inspector my understand is at the yellow wire connection located in the 200amp circuit breaker box. What I need to do is connect the seperate ground and neutral wires that I will be running to the shed here AND connect another wire and run that to a ground pole directly under the box in the picture. Is my understanding correct?

Another question also back there is a well. Currently there is 3 wires ( 1 black, 1 white and a 1 ground) running to the 220 pump. When I put in a new box in the shed the neutral and ground will NOT be bond together. The ground wire from the pump goes to the ground side of the box?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

The yellow wire is the neutral. For a service entrance, the neutral should be bonded to ground. You will need to run 2 hots and a neutral, plus a ground, to your new breaker box. The NEC used to treat each building as a separate service, but now they want all the ground wires connected and let the neutral float. I think a local ground is a good idea, but you will still have to run the ground wire between your breaker boxes.

 

[JD5210]

Larry, thanks for the response. My plan is to run 4 wires to the shed, 2 power, 1 ground and 1 neutral. I also plan to install a ground pole at the shed.

Any thoughts on connecting the wire from the well ie on the ground or neutral side of the box in the shed?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Connect it to the neutral. If you have a light in the well house it needs to have a neutral. The well casing is a better ground than you will find anywhere on your property, and the pump motor is a balanced load.

I put a 30 amp service panel at all the places I run power, like the well house, the cistern, the wood shed, etc., just so I can have 120/240 available, plug in an air compressor, heating strips, heat lamp or lights. I set my air compressor up to run off of 240v., so it only draws 12 amps. I ran a 100 amp service to the barn, because that's where the shop is.